King Rat (1965)

Excellent but underrated film

Admirable film.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It's 1945. The POW camp Changi jail, Singapore holds most British prisoners from early in the war. They are imprisoned by the jungle and the far distances. American Corporal King (George Segal) lives comfortably from his various schemes in contrast to everybody else's near-starvation. Military police Lieutenant Grey is fixated on bringing down King and his selfish corruption. After catching a rat, he comes up with an idea to breed them and sell rat meat as mouse deer. King befriends British officer Lt. Peter Marlowe (James Fox) who is taken with King's methods.POW films are often grand escape films. Sure there are some scheming douches but they are all villainous types. This one makes the schemer an anti-hero. He doesn't become good to join the war effort. He is a complicated person with complicated motives. The world is a dog-eat-dog world. It's a great character. George Segal plays him with a bit of sleaze and a bit of charm but he is not a villain. He is simply the King Rat.

King Rat, based on writer James Clavell's own three-year experience in one of the most infamous POW camps, takes place in the brutal WWII Japanese POW camp called Changi in Malaysia -- surrounded by miles of endless ocean and impenetrable jungle.From the beginning, the viewer can feel the hellish heat, the agonizing hunger, and the sheer desperation of both officers and enlisted men. Prisoners die of starvation, disease, and torture. In one scene at the massively full infirmary, when yet another prisoner dies, someone asks the overworked and unsupplied doctor, "He lost the will to live, right?" The doctor replies, "No, he just gave up the irrational will not to die." 26-year-old James Fox gives an outstanding performance as the protagonist, Marlowe, an idealistic young upper-class Flight Lieutenant in the RAF, who happens to speak Malay.The titular character, the American corporal King (George Segal), is an expert hustler and scammer who, in stark contrast to his starving, diseased, and bedraggled fellow prisoners, remains well fed, well clothed, and well supplied. For King, in the milieu of the POW camp, he is what he could never be in outside military or civilian life: a success.Once King notices Marlowe's linguistic skills, he moves in fast to recruit him into his team of subordinates who help him carry out his scams. In return for his translations which make scamming the Malaysian guards possible, Marlowe gets 10% of the profit, and occasionally an egg or, miraculously once, meat, which is completely unheard of.But Marlowe is a high-ranking officer, and King is a lowly corporal. Is their friendship mere expediency, or is it a faithful, unbreakable bond forged in the extremities of war? Only the life-changing events which follow will determine that.Although the film shows the hardships and brutality of the POW camp, it's far from one-note or bleak. There are scenes of high humor and gaiety, complex interpersonal relationships and dealings, and a variety of complex characters. Tom Courtenay is Lt. Grey, the maddeningly belligerent and self-righteous camp provost who polices all of his fellow prisoners' behavior; and the supporting cast boasts actors such as John Mills and Denholm Elliott.All in all, King Rat is a delicious and riveting film, arguably the best POW film ever.

Enjoyed this film and the feel of it although it does weave the typical British touch of ugly American into it. "Bloody Yank capitalist, I dare say!"Fox, Mills and the rest do a great job playing themselves really, but Segal does a great job playing a character that could/would be despised. The American collaborating with the enemy and using the poor British soldiers to his own end.(laughs)However, this is a good film and the characters, most of them, are well developed, so we're with them too.Overall, I enjoyed it.

George Segal's character's uniform khaki blouse gives away his origins as a U.S. P.o.W. in a Japanese Prison Camp filled largely with British military personnel. His Shoulder Sleeve Insignia (SSI), on his left sleeve, is clearly the patch of the pre-war U.S. Army's Philippine Division, a gold carabao head on a red field. This outfit, which was based on the Philippine island of Luzon at Forts William McKinley and Stotsenberg, was composed mostly of the native Philippine Scouts, although there were American troops in the all-white 31st Infantry Regiment (the "Polar Bears")and some of the Coast Artillery units on the Fortified Islands and among the service troops.Segal's character must have come out of one of those units. It is hard to say if he had indeed gone on the Bataan Death March, however, he seems to have been resourceful enough to survived that ordeal, the prison camps at Camp O'Donnell and Cabanatuan, and the Hell Ships.